Human Sacrifice
by WarFlower
Summary: THIS IS A REWRITE OF TEAM JINCHURUKI Naruto and Gaara meet earlier and begin their journey as brothers, but to be team Jinchuuriki, they have to find more members. This will involve ALL Jinchuuriki. Cannibal Jinchuuriki! Rated M for Blood, Gore, Violence and other M themes. Will update summary.


**Hi there. So, here is the revised and rewritten first chapter of Team Jinchuriki: Village Hidden in Darkness, Now just Team Jinchuriki. Sorry it had taken so long, I had no idea where I was going with this story. I have reread the older one and i cringe so hard, soooooo hard. I was like 16 and my writing skills were subpar, at best. Maybe I am better now that I have more experience? Who knows... Well, there are some big changes to the story, it will still be a darker Naruto AU so you've been warned. If you read the other story (I'll leave it up *cringe*) and you are returning, I welcome you back! Thank you for your patience!**

I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Darkness. Darkness and the feeling of floating. Where was he? Who was he? He lifted his hand slowly, water rippling away but the dryness was disorientating. Holding his hand above his head he spread his small fingers as dry water droplets fell to his face. He felt an unnatural calmness coat over him like a blanket. What was he doing here? Where was here in this place of dry water? He dropped his hand and drifted on the slight waves created by the splash. Was this a dream? Could dreams feel so real? He wasn't so sure. How long had he been afloat? He wanted to move further but he felt so heavy, so tired, moreso than usual. He tried to remember his name... Naruto? Yes, that was it. With that name came the memories. He thought he might have cried or he would have felt despair but nothing except tiredness came to him. He just wanted to sleep. Sleep, yes. He could do that much. As he drifted further on a wave of the dry water he hadn't the awareness to see that he wasn't alone. A red eye watched on from behind bars that stretched into the darkness, an eye that was just as tired.

"Sleep boy," The voice was but a whisper of a breath that spoke a millennia of exhaustion, too soft to echo in the massive room, "You'll need it." The being shrouded in darkness shut its eye and drifted into another fit of dreamless sleep.

* * *

His eyes opened once more, with more difficulty than it had been in the darkness cast adrift on dry water. He was still has he took in his surroundings. The canoupy of trees were cast in an orange glow, the setting sun hidden high up from his view. He felt pain shoot through his arm as he sat up, leaning against the tree he took in a shuttering breath. Looking down he saw why he hurt. There was a gash in his forearm. It wasn't as bad as last night, though he couldn't imagine why it was healing so fast... maybe he was a demon? That's what they called him anyways. He looked up again through the cracks in the leaves and remembered last night. Had he slept all day? Probably. He hadn't slept well for a long time. The people of the village always kept him on his toes, last night reminded him he had to stay vigilant. He had dozed off for far too long in that back alleyway, having given up on finding a new hiding place in his exhausted state.

He turned his attention back to the gash in his arm, the bleeding had stopped hours ago, he asumed. It was long but not too deep. Sighing he looked back up in tired contemplation.

Kyuubi, huh?

He knew not what to make of the revelation. He supposed it made sense. The cold logic settled over him and cooled his anxiety with the thought of just knowing. The way the village treated him, the looks of hatred or disgust when he wasn't flat out ignored. Why did they treat him this way though? He could not understand them. If they feared the beast being released why attack? However, at the sametime, they also thought he WAS the Kyuubi. In which case they still should not attck. He felt a sudden painful and all consuming loathing for the village, for his fate. Why him? Why did he have to be alone? He didn't ask for this! What was his life but a cruel joke? His stomach twisted suddenly in a painful jerk. He needed to eat. He hated most foods, only eating the bare minimum. He felt sick when he ate anything that wasn't at least meat, which he found odd. He sniffed the air and looked back down at his arm, it smelt so good... He shook his head. Standing on small, shaking legs, he needed to feed his malnurished childs body.

Looking back up through the cracks in the trees he sighed, wishing he could be free. Maybe like a cloud, or perhaps a bird? He did not care for the walls of the village were his prison and trapped within he was. If he could just fly away... maybe there were people out there like him? Perhaps, perhaps not.

* * *

The whispers were loud, though they did not know he could hear. The hushed words swirling in the air around him as he walked down the dirt street. The desert village of Sunagakure was as remarkable as it was unremarkable. The sounds of scared and disgusted villagers dancing off the stucco buildings, vibrating off the sand always surrounding him. The child closed his eyes and did his best to drown the admonishments. 'Demon.' 'Beast.' 'Cursed.' He willed the courus to stop. It wasn't the first and it wouldn't be the last that he felt unwelcome in his own village. He was alone, utterly. No one would befriend him. Either their hatred for him caused them to stay clear or their fear caused them to flee. He couldn't understand, the sand only lashed out when he was attacked, why would they provoke it? He had little control over it as he had yet to enroll in the Academy.

Gaara was his name, his red hair ruffled gently in the wind and he stopped walking. Bowing his head he looked at his teddy bear, his best friend. He had not asked for this life. His only friends were his teddy bear and Uncle Yashamaru.

Looking into the distance he saw a group of kids playing ball. It looked to be a fun game, they threw the ball back and forth over a child in the center, the middle child jumping to catch the ball. They were laughing and shouting and it looked to be fun. Gaara quelled the scathing jealousy as he looked on his fingers tightening around his teddy. Oh how he wished they would call him over with smiles and laughter, letting him in on the fun too. To be accepted... No, better not to dwell on thought unchangeable, he continued to watch from down the street. He stiffened as the ball the children were playing with rolled towards him and touched the tip of his toes. The red head looked at the ball for a second then to the kids then back to the ball in front of him.

Gaara glanced back up to the kids and they had a mixture of fear and hatred in their eyes. He could smell their fear drifting on the wind as he pushed down the not to foreign feeling of his inner predator. He understood it little and in his lack of understanding he was left with a similar fear as the children across the street. The boy leaned over to pick up the ball and return it to the kids then leave; however, just as he touched the ball all the kids stiffened and a few stepped away in fear. He picked the ball up and went to return it to the girl closest to him.

"Here.." Gaara whispered but in the quiet if sounded like a yell. His hands trembled from an anxiety born of rejection and loss. He knew how this would play out and he was an unwilling actor, unable to walk away. He stared at the ball, unwilling to watch the children judge him guilty of being a monster, a failed experiment, a sacrifice.

"Stay away you monster" She cried as he took a singular step towards her. She turned swiftly and ran away crying for her mother grabbing the hand of the girl standing next to her. "Hurry Onee-chan! Or he'll kill you!" She screamed in terror.

"No...please don't go," the red head plead as he watched to two girls disappear around the street corner.

"Nice job Demon, you ruined our game" a boy a few years little older than him said as he threw a stone at the red head. Just as it seemed the stone would hit the boy with the teddy bear sand rose to his defense, blocking it, the stone fell to the ground softly. There was a measure of suffocating silence as Gaara clutched as his teddy bear.

The older boy suddenly screamed, "He's going to kill us all! Run!" The boy and the rest of the kids ran away leaving the red head all alone in the middle of the street. Shadows cast over him as if the world wished to show his loneliness to a crowed that refused to see him. Tears gently slid from his black rimmed eyes, falling to the ball once more. Sudden anger engulfed him as he dropped the ball and watched as his sand crushed it easily. A numbness settled over him as he wiped his tears, turning the way he came, continuing down the street.

* * *

Rasa no Sabaku, Yondaime Kazekage of Sunagakure, sighed as he lowered his hand from his brown eye and turned back to his desk. A frown creased his forehead as he sat down heavily. He was tired, so tired. His hand rested on the desk next to a stack of manila folders. His other hand opened the top drawer to an unframed photo. Shame. Shame was what he felt as he looked at his late wife. He failed. He failed her. He failed Konkuro. He failed Temari. He failed as a father but most importantly, he failed Gaara. Gaara was supposed to be strong. Able to be the weapon the village needed as their economy crumbled. The Daimyo kept turning away from Suna and the Land of Winds people. He did not know why but the Suna Black Ops were investigating. He would have answers for this negligence.

Closing the drawer he look in a deep breath, steeling himself for what must come next. Glancing behind him he watched the village he had sworn to protect. He had sacrificed so much for his home, he could not stop now. Gaara was a danger, a failed gamble that paned him. His wife was dead in the hope that sealing the Sand Spirit into Gaara while she was pregnant would make him stronger, able to be shaped into the ultimate weapon for war. It failed and Rasa felt crushing shame. He had watched as the children had ran from Gaara, the sand acting on its own. Gaara had liminted control and it made him a danger; a liabilaty.

He was silent for a moment as he wallowed in memories, he remembered his life before the sealing. Karura was so happy to be having another child. She was always smiling, humming as she danced around the house. Then he remembered his wife unconscious on the table as Chiyo sealed the Sand Spirit into her swollen belly. He took in a sharp breath at the memory of her scream.

The Kazekage motioned for the ninja behind him, "Send for my in-law, Yashamaru." Rasa clentched his hands at his side as he pushed away the guilt. He had to protect the village. What was one more shame? What was one more sacrifice?

* * *

He ran. He ran as fast as he could. Heading back to the alley to grab his pack was a mistake. He should have never went. The muscles in his legs burned as he heard the dogs chasing after him. They were so close and the only reason he had escaped them so far was his balanced run on the ledge. The dogs barked and lunged forward, try as they might, they couldn't grasp the child. Those terrible people had sicked their three dogs on him. Hatred boiled inside of him as he ran. The ledge was coming to a stop. Halting he turned to run a different direction but the dogs owners were in the only direction he could run to... turning back as the dogs tried to scale the wall to reach him, jumping a nashing teeth in an attempt to latch on. He spotted a hole in the fance!

He took off running and jumped of the ledge, fear for his life helping him to go faster, to go farther. He made it! However, not quick enough as pain shot through his leg. Screaming, he tore his left from the dogs grasp, blood gushing in an arch as he tumbled backwards. He watched in pain as the dogs tried to push their way through the opening with fail. They paced along the fence and Naruto's eyes widened as one started digging. The terrified child scrambled to his feet and turned to run. The torn flash of his right leg giving him trouble. Panic set in and he fell. The feeling of teeth on his arm, back on his leg was excruciating. He cried for help as the dogs shook their heads, he grasped the dog on his arm by the head as his vision turned red, he squeezed as hard as he could and the dogs let go in fear. The one in his grasp whining loudly as it eyes started to bleed from the pressure.

Naruto left his wounds healing as he pulled the dog closer, a ravage hunger ripped through his being as his teeth began to ache. The canine teeth sharpened as he growled inhumanly and lunged foreward. The terrified dog yelped in pain as the demonic child ripped into its throat, tearing through its flesh in a frenzy. The taste was unlike anything he had tasted before. The rawness, the blood, it was so primal as he felt the life leave the animal. Predator turned prey, turned meal. It still felt somewhat off to Naruto as he pulled out the dying dogs throat. His mind was a haze as he loomed over his kill.

He ate as a starved child would. Covered in blood and ravenous. Meat and blood covered him as he swallowed, red eyes glancing up towards the moon. A rumbling growl left him as he stood. Unaware of how much time had passed, he stared down at the half eaten dog and felt nothing. He did not understand how morally wrong his actions were, no role model to teach him. The boy glanced forward, deeper into the surrounding forest, he could leave. He really could. Naruto could run away and none that he knew of could be the wiser, until he was long gone.

* * *

"Hello Gaara," Yashamaru, Gaara's uncle greeted as he walked into Gaara's bedroom.

"Hello, Uncle" Gaara said with a pure smile.

"Now let's play."

Gaara smiled as he looked out to the moon, 'at least I have one person who loves me.'


End file.
